I’ve always resented resumes. The pressure feels enormous: how do I summarize who I am and the value I bring on the front of a piece of paper? There’s so much more to me.
When I was in school, I also felt like I had very few accomplishments – how could I even fill the front of a piece of paper when all I’ve done is bag groceries, change oil, and restock a barbecue buffet?
This post shares two mindset shifts, and three extremely practical hacks to improve your resume.
Stop Begging.
The first mindset shift you need to adopt is to recognize that as a human being, you have intrinsic value. You’re not begging for a job. You’re searching for a fit. I know you might be feeling desperate, you might be watching the offers pour in for everyone around you, but hang in there.
People change jobs about a dozen times in their career. One of the causes is dissatisfaction – which can arise from working at a place you don’t truly fit. Give yourself permission to be picky about fit. Find somewhere that lights you up, and convincing them to hire you becomes much easier.
There is no right answer.
The internet is full of resume advice. College career centers are full of people who offer advice. For any tip or trick, you can find a dozen people who disagree and suggest the exact opposite. Why? Because there’s no right answer. All (ok, most) of the advice is great for someone.
You’re an individual, and your resume should be too. I’m a big fan of the counselors on college campuses because they can help you apply best practices with your unique situation in mind. If your resume looks like everyone else’s, then you haven’t represented yourself – you’ve created the brochure for an imaginary creature that you THINK some organizations will want to hire.
Now, 3 tips that apply to everyone.
Hack 1: Communicate clearly.
Vague puffery isn’t going to land you a job. “Delivered excellent results with customer satisfaction in mind.” Is this person selling high-end cars? Manufacturing toothbrushes? Waiting tables?
I use the following format for my resume bullets, not as a prescription, but as a measurement of clear communication:
“Strong verb, on noun, with what result?”
- Designed a part storage system saving 35 minutes of hunting per day.
- Established relationships with new donors increasing first-time giving by 12%.
- Mentored students in professional skills leading to higher reported starting salaries.
Note the last bullet: if you don’t have quantifiable data for your results, that’s perfectly fine. Most of my work isn’t scrutinized with statistics either. You can craft a truthful result nonetheless.
Hack 2: Either make your tagline awesome, or don’t have one at all.
“Aspiring professional with a determined work ethic and commitment to excellence.”
Oh. I see you can search the Internet for fancy words too. That’s awesome.
Here’s the deal: vague statements like this are completely ignored. Who’s going to remember this? And even if they do, would you believe someone giving themselves this compliment?
Instead, say something meaningful. I use the following outline for my tagline. Again, this isn’t prescriptive, but it helps me communicate who I am in a way that I am comfortable with:
- Industry Issue
- Your Roles
- Project Statement
Here’s an example, from mine:
“Living and learning on purpose. Professor, husband, dad. Tired of seeing students stressed, trying to do something about it.”
Here’s an example I made up:
“Design with sustainable materials. Engineer, advocate, hiker. Slowing the growth of landfills one eco-friendly product at a time.”
Hack 3: White space is an asset.
We’re all afraid of looking unaccomplished and under-qualified. Padding your resume with 17 bullet points about the transferable skills you learned at your high-school summer job isn’t the solution. In fact, it’s the best way to point out any lack of qualifications you may have.
Instead, realize what a resume is supposed to do: give them enough of a preview that they want to talk to you. The second you’re speaking with a person, on the phone or in an interview, your resume is done. Resumes don’t get jobs, they get interviews.
White space helps here: give your audience somewhere to scratch notes. Let them focus on the ideas that matter most, and leave the rest off.
Have you ever noticed that the more lousy a movie, the longer the trailers get and the more they reveal? Go watch the trailer for Green Lantern. Don’t be like the Green Lantern.
Conclusion
The final point that you need to hear is that your resume doesn’t matter half as much as you think it does. People spend hours and hours agonizing over the wording and the layout and the font sizes and the… it doesn’t matter!
Every minute you spend editing your resume is a minute that could have been spent connecting with potential employers, forming relationships with future colleagues. The people doing this are getting jobs, while the people with perfect resumes wonder what happened.
If you’d like to learn how to land your dream job, then you’ll love the workshop that I’m developing for the Intentional Academy. It’s almost ready! Be sure to enter your name and email address in the boxes below and I’ll let you know when this opportunity is ready for you!
